PierreFrancois Simonieux
by Carolyn1776
Summary: Intrigued by the American cause for independence, a young Frenchman leaves his family and candlemaking trade behind to take voyage to the Colonies.
1. PierreFrancois Simonieux

Toulouse, France 1776

An unmarried, 23-year old candle maker in the French city of Toulouse was welcoming a late evening supper at his home with the rest of his family. That night, the Simonieux family gracefully received their guest, a locally renowned decorator and draftsman by the name of Jean-Marie-Joseph Ingres. After the day's work in his father's candle shop in the heat of that early August season, Pierre-François had combed his wavy brown hair, which was fashionably tied with a large red bow and hung neatly as a medium-length queue tail in back. Proud to look presentable, his dark blue waistcoat complimented the ruffles of his fine chemise shirt and his slightly tanned, Mediterranean-type complexion. Despite the humid air of the dining room, the young man showed standard European dignity for the gentleman guest by keeping his waistcoat on as a gesture of esteem. His deep brown eyes seemed to match the distinctive cleft in his chin right below his handsomely shaped lips. The appearance of his oval-shaped face was exceptionally different from the lavishly painted, pale white mode of the Parisian dandies of the day. In addition to what they looked like physically, the Simonieux family was and would be placed in the category of the "bourgeosie" – the French middle class – a position that would in the next few years hold notorious political significance.

Also seated at the dining table were his 19-year old sister Babette, his 20-year old brother Jacques, his older brother Rémy and his young wife Étienne, and his father and mother, Jean-Louis and Hélène. To a considerable degree, Babette, with her long, regal nose and an almost heart-like shape to her mouth resembled her mother, who was told by acquaintances at social gatherings that she had a face similar to that of some of the female statues sculpted in ancient Greece. The young men in the family resembled their father, except for Jacques, whose facial features were a perfect blend of those of both parents. His innocent boyish physical appearance and mannerisms inspired many who met him to believe he was a gentle poet, by type, and girls from his school days were noticed to fawn over him. The youngest in the family, Marie Simonieux tragically died in a carriage accident at the age of twelve three years before. Jacques, who worked alongside Pierre-François making candles was in the process of preparing for marriage to the daughter of a local wine merchant and having to wait until her family's return from Poland on business. Rumors that Jacques's previous wife had died when they were both seventeen years old had contracted syphillus from another young man in the city were untrue. The fact was that the unfortunate girl passed away from an unexplainable blood disease. Rémy's wife was pregnant with their third child and the couple was financially satisfied with Rémy's trade as the vendor of the candles that Pierre-François and Jacques had so faithfully and skillfully produced.

Though their generations-old proprietorship was rarely troubled, the Simonieux family was not without its domestic concerns. Pleasingly pretty Babette had spent a whopping two years fending off a 26 year-old suitor who supposedly had fallen in love with her but she had absolutely no interest in him. She considered him too old and not pleasant to look at. Rather than silversmith Jean-Luc Charbois who could and wanted to enhance the beauty of the Simonieux candles for sale with his ornate candleholders, an Italian boy from the well-known Toulouse orchestra was who her heart yearned for. The two had met at a musical performance they were invited to by Monsieur Ingres, who had a great fondness for the music of the times and wanted to influence the Simonieux family members to become as emotionally moved by the symphonies as much as he was. Typical mother-daughter bickering in the Simonieux household included the subject of Babette's habit of running off to see her music-loving beau while Jean-Luc is left standing at the doorway.

Details of Babette's lover were not necessarily kept secret. The young violinist had little to impress her with other than a story that he was once personally applauded by Antonio Solieri – Austria's royal court composer who would attain notoriety as the unsuccessful rival to the great Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. To improve the charm of the story, he emphasized the coincidence of the Austrian emperor being the brother of Queen Marie Antoinette. To criticize the love affair, Madame Simonieux insisted that the story was a falsehood.

Then there was the matter of Pierre-François. Given his age and social environment, he was the strange case of a robust young Frenchman who was not yet in love. His nature of character would have seen it fit to make it known if or when he was. His mother was all but ashamed that as many as fourteen proper, beautiful women had expressed desire for his affections to no avail. Both his mother and father had been in the process of attempting to "push" him into marriage by creatively employing their own circle of friends to help them do it. Relatives of the Simonieux family became exaspirated from doing the same for him when he was in his late teens. The family's attachment to the Church was also a factor. Formal visits, called "rencontres" with well-mannered, gorgeously-dressed Catholic Frenchwomen, one at a time, would be the order of sporatic evenings at home, each with him wondering what friend or business collegue had set it up beforehand. He never knew when he would be faced with an invitation to court a new, unknown young lady after a typical day's work of candle making. Every time, he showed his best behavior as if for Sunday mass no matter what kind of mood he was in. An eager young lady who was admiring his face during a dainty yet elegant dinner simulated infatuation with him by failing to partake of the beautiful meal and stared into his eyes instead. He was not shy about saying a few words about how pretty she was, even if merely to go along with what was expected of him. However, he resented that a helping of such good food was wasted, and he gently scolded her that just because he acknowledged her beauty openly did not necessarily mean he was reciprocating her interest in him. He was glad that not all had exaggerated the potential for a courtship with him, and very few had been foolish enough to shamelessly pursue him after their charms were ignored. He had shown manly interest in none, however the gallantry his cultural breeding called for was not lost on his small tokens of appreciation bestowed upon the ladies. In accordance with regional customs normal for the times, his man-to-woman letters of rejection along with the "thank you-but-no thank you" gifts were flowery and somewhat vague – an approach that would have confused and worsened the heartbreak of someone coming from English tradition. The names and faces of every one of the women were soon forgotten. As he reassured the family that he was not against the idea of getting married, especially in regards to marriage as a holy sacrament, his parents had no intention of giving up.

They were quick to look to their guest for assistance. It would not be unheard of for the artistically talented Monsieur Ingres to send to them for him available young lady students of the drawing class he was teaching. Even though he had recently moved to the nearby village of Montauban, they continued to invite each other to every special occasion such as weddings, baby christenings, and Christmas frolics. He had also been present at the solemn funeral and burial of Marie. The Simonieux family had known him over many years first as a regular customer of their candle wares and then as a good, trustworthy friend. The social sitting room, called "le salon" of the Simonieux home still displayed the miniature portraits of the Monsieur, Madame, and their children, all hand-painted by Joseph-Marie, free of charge. With nearly every other house guest they ever had since, Pierre-François showed the portaits as among the most prized possessions of the family. As Monsieur Ingres loved to talk about his fine work, he openly planned on getting married himself and especially elaborated that he would stop at nothing to raise a boy of his own to be a magnificent artist.


	2. PierreFrancois Learning English

Pierre-François Learning English

A few brief ideas for how their supper guest could help the Simonieux family find a wife for Pierre-François were none-too-lofty. The subject passed more quickly than Pierre-François could ever have imagined. Maybe it was a ruse to make him think they were beginning to tire of the subject and finally leave it up to his own devices with no help from anybody else anymore. Whatever the case, all of a sudden the family's aim to see him married off somehow seemed to take a much more underhanded turn than ever before. An Englishman would have regarded this treatment of the situation as "typically French" and a ridiculous game forced upon a reasonably healthy, intelligent fellow. An independent spirit was brewing inside him, and it wouldn't be long before he would feel the concept of independence on an altogether greater scale than merely his ways of becoming a married man.

It was a concept associated with a very important American immensely admired by him and so many other people in France – Benjamin Franklin. The man was so intriguing to Pierre-François that he was inspired to learn his language. Neither family nor friends had any part in his desire to learn English. It was all because of his hero of science, philosophy, and now more recently, new political thought. He had been bored with the study of Latin during his younger years attending one of the finest Catholic schools in the region. After his apprenticeship in candle making, he was determined to seek out a decent English tutor. Mostly because of anti-British feeling coming from the Seven Years' War, Pierre-François had refused to learn the dialect of England and therefore much preferred to pay hard-earned francs to someone who could teach him the English of the colonies. He intended to speak the language as the illustrious Ben Franklin always spoke, in terms of grammar and vocabulary, except with a well preserved southern French accent.

An amply educated bookseller named Phillipe Gaubin was the one who had been selected, from credentials acquired from a long-term stay in Philadelphia, Dr. Franklin's home colony. As Monsieur Gaubin taught the Wednesday evening private lessons in the Simonieux family salon, the learning process was peppered with Pierre-François's sincere enthusiasm, with him often pretending that he's practicing his English for a social meeting with Dr. Franklin himself. For every lesson, Monsieur Gaubin had brought the best English language books on the French market. Pierre-François's favorite item brought to his lessons was an American-style primer shown as a sample of how children in the colonies are taught English themselves. Monsieur Gaubin had told him that it was a souvenir graciously given to him by a Pennsylvania schoolmaster he met at a dining establishment called a tavern and had brought it home to France to keep as a cherished part of his English tutorship supplies. Though it was not discussed in detail, it soon occurred to Pierre-François that Monsieur Gaubin was in fact the first French person he had ever met who had at least one American friend.

The lesson times went smoothly and uninterrupted, with the other members of the Simonieux household kindly keeping themselves quiet and occupied in the upstairs rooms. Pierre-François never took the instruction for granted. He was dedicated to it from the time he started on his 17th birthday all the way up to the level where it was decided that he could manage English reading, writing, speaking, and comprehension without the aid of a translation book. Like for any other French-speaking person learning English for the first time, the language had its rocky points such as the existence of the subjunctive tense of verbs being nearly untranslatable for its English equivalent of each of the same verb. The rhythm of English phrases was also quite different to him from the flow of saying the same phrases except in French. The pronunciation of some English words he encountered seemed vaguely Germanic in style, as with the use of the letter "w". However, he shortly discovered he could add his own French identity of diction by simply pronouncing certain sounds with his natural undiluted Gallic tone and raw mouth dynamics of saying words, when possible. Hence, his guaranteed French accent, indicative of, specifically, the south region of France.

Thanks to Monsieur Gaubin talking about aspects of learning the language along with the actual lessons, Pierre-François was also introduced to the fact of a Parisian accent speaking English sounding different to American ears from the accent of a native from France's south region. Monsieur Gaubin said the native southern accent of French people in their region is sometimes described as "heavier" to American listeners, perhaps the heaviest rendering in the entire language. Once he had mastered speaking entire phrases with Monsieur Gaubin providing the reciprocating dictation from one of the books, the process of learning to understand English spoken by someone else followed. This had proved to be more of a challenge and Pierre-François felt somewhat embarrassed by the idea of having to ask for a spoken English phrase to be repeated more slowly so that he could understand each word and then put the words together. French pride spared no one in terms of ordinary mistakes of intellect in the presence of people from other lands. He imagined that during the Seven Years' War situations like those might have led to instances of interpersonal cultural fallacy in addition to the obvious political hostilities.

During practice portions of the lessons, he felt a sense of relief when complete comprehension of a typical English phrase commonly used in everyday life was finally achieved. A great deal of extra practice was necessary for this but Monsieur Gaubin was very patient. To soften the difficulty of it in the oral practice came along the more enjoyable factor of Monsieur Gaubin imitating an American person asking him a question, sometimes in a comical way, just in case the young candle maker would someday meet a comical American. Unaware of the political climate of the colonies in regards to the French at the time, Monsieur Gaubin was careful not to make him feel uncomfortable with phrases that could be interpreted as offensively anti-French in context. He could only draw from his own experiences encountering American people then regarded as British subjects who uniquely do not speak in the same accent as the people of England. The tutor presented his choice of practice phrases as if to assume no need for Pierre-François to fear American social rejection or worse. Between them, there was no talk of the likely communication issues based solely on Pierre-François's national origin. He creatively came up with conversational phrases that would pass for realistic dialogue between an American person who has never traveled or encountered anyone outside of the colonies and someone who speaks English but only as a second language. It made Pierre-François laugh at first but he did not deny the importance of such an approach. Furthermore, he also appreciated that a few of the English words were of French origin. Some words, as he found, even shared the same spelling as their French counterparts, except with an Anglicized, then preferably Americanized way of pronouncing it. The lessons were almost entirely academic in nature and contained no inferences to a potential change in overall attitude of the "English colonies" toward the people of the English commonwealth's most hated neighboring country.

By the time of an attention-grabbing event of radical protest in Massachusetts that came to be known as the Boston Tea Party, he had officially finished the studies. They had lasted for four years, and well worth it even more than both he and his tutor had anticipated, as it would turn out. During the time of one of the lessons, there was only a short spattering of reference to the idea of Pierre-François using the English language skills for travel or commerce to the colonies, let alone anything of political or military nature. Upon concluding his services, Monsieur Gaubin had handed him a very thoughtful reward for excellent progress – a copy of Poor Richard's Almanac.


	3. A Proposition For PierreFrancois

A Proposition For Pierre-François

The morning after the supper with their longtime friend of the family, the Simonieux brothers Pierre-François and Jacques were back to work as usual in the candle shop. It was then that a portly man about town walked in. Pierre-François and his brother had never seen him before. He had a wooden cane, a snowy-white powdered wig and the smell of someone who frequently conducted business with seamen. He did not come to talk about candles.

"Bonjour, les jeunes messieurs. Je voudrais proposer quelque chose à vous. D'abord, connaissez-vous parler anglais?" ("Good morning, young sirs, I would like to propose something to you. First, do you speak English?")

Pierre-François gestured to himself quickly, then wiped his wax-caked fingers on his apron. He could tell by the man's accent that he was French, so it was apparent that the man was not asking the question for his own sake.

"Oui, monsieur. Pourquoi?" ("Yes, sir. Why?")

Pierre-François had a voice as buttery as any French sauce on food. It could never pass for any other nationality. Whatever this man wanted in regards to speaking English, Pierre-François was eager to find out.

"C'est mes affairs mais c'est aussi politique. À Paris on sais que les nouvelles à l'Àmerique du nord deviennent plus et plus interressantes. Pour la première fois, il y existe des colons qui veulent couper le règle brittanique complètement, et toute contre le roi George le troisième. Ils ont déclaré leur pays d'etre libre! Imaginez-ça! Bien sur, le roi d'Angleterre est terriblement en colère, et les Anglais veulent bloquer tous les routes de nos produits envoyés à travers le Mer Atlantique, tout pour détruire le marchet entre nous et les colons. Hèlas, les Brittaniques restent nos énnemies. Si seulement j'aurais pu voir le regard sur son visage quand il a vu la déclaration – une déclaration écrit à quitter sa controle des colons et les Colonies au meme temps. Quelle courage, les colons, là-bas! Alors, jeune messieur, ça signifie, pour moi et quelques autres ici en France qu'on a besoin de fournir des routes secrèts pour maintenir non affairs, et donc on a besoin aucuns gars qui peuvent parler anglais pour conduire les échanges secrèts."

("It's my business but it's also political. In Paris we know that the news in North America is becoming more and more interesting. For the first time there are colonials who want to cut the British rule completely, and all against King George the Third. They declared their country to be free! Imagine that! Of course, the king of England is terribly angry, and the English want to block all the trade routes of our goods sent across the Atlantic Ocean, all to destroy the market between us and the colonials. Alas, the British remain our enemies. If only I could have seen the look on his face when he saw the declaration – a written declaration to quit his control of the colonials and the colonies at the same time. What courage, those colonials over there! So, young sir, that means, for me and others here in France that we need to furnish some secret routes to maintain our business, and therefore we need any fellows who could speak English to conduct the secret exchanges.")

The man was obviously someone who wanted to facilitate the covert stretching of France's own market interests against England in light of what was happening in the American colonies. Pierre-François was quick to figure it out as the man asked if Jacques too could speak English, with him saying no. Just in case Pierre-François and his brother fit the image of the southerner who was less sophisticated and less well-informed than the notherners, the man added a little more.

"Les colons qui suivent leur but de la liberté, ils refusent à acheter les choses d'Angleterre, alors ils sont pretes à acheter les notres meme plus."

("The colonials who are following the goal of liberty, they refuse to buy things from England, so they are ready to buy ours all the more.")

"La liberté, monsieur?" ("Liberty, sir?") Pierre-François's eyebrows perched. Something inside him lit up at even the sound of the word.

"Oui, la liberté. C'est une terme utilisé dans la déclaration écrit que j'en dit."

("Yes, liberty. It's a term used in the written declaration that I told you about.")

The nearest seaport to Toulouse was Marseilles on the southernmost tip of France.

"Je ne vie assez près de la cote." ("I don't live near enough to the coast.")

The man explained that in order to help keep the trade route operation secret, the loading and shipping convoy employed occasional volunteers brought by carriage from neighboring towns and villages farther inland from the outermost ports, but not in the middle provinces. It was presumed that the middle regions of the country would be most likely to send up word of the secret operation to Paris by whatever political informers could tell the royal court, eventually reaching the king. Naturally, there was fear that the king would not approve, at least not yet. The man described how the undercover suppliers designated the secret trade routes so as to segment them away from the usual main established routes that went to continents other than North America. The branches, movement, and chain of authority, following purely French ways of organization were more tightly structured and vertically designed than any British commerce official could infiltrate successfully, or so it was intended.

If Pierre-François had the slightest interest in what the man was talking about, he was even more interested in the notion that there had to be some form of propaganda to instigate it all, and money to make it happen. French culture, even in the south, would not allow such and elaborate and exciting operation to stand alone. There had to be practical support of information, communication, and timetables, all in addition to the art of the social workings within who would do what, with whom, and how.

The man paused for a few silent minutes, allowing Pierre-François to ponder what he was proposing during a slow, careful dipping of a candle wick into a basin of piping hot wax. Pierre-François could just picture being a part of a late night crew of young Frenchmen speaking English as a second language to seamen loading and unloading crates on a dock. Such would be seaman not only braving the ravages of ocean voyage with costly French cargo but also braving the risk of mutiny and capture by British warships.

The man did not say what his name is, but offered to leave and return the next day for word of whether or not Pierre-François would be interested in accepting his proposition. The man had no intention of interfering with the candle maker's normal rate of work. Nonetheless, the proposition was not to be taken lightly. What the man was offering was young, fresh accompaniment in his own state of being a profiteer of the American colonial rebellion. In actual terms, he was asking Pierre-François if he would like to become a smuggler.


	4. PierreFrancois Prepares For A Choice

Pierre-François Prepares For A Choice

Throughout the rest of the day, there was nothing that took over his thoughts as much as the proposition that Pierre-François would take on a secret nighttime task set forth for him by a total stranger. If he were to accept the proposition, there was no telling who he would meet or if the work would be more than just work, but something even more important to whoever was in charge of the operation. He wished he could have seen or heard whatever meeting of people brought on the idea for this type of international commerce, whether there were significantly wealthy merchants behind it, or a contract agreement between them. What if someone from the American colonies came up with the idea and made contact about it with French port authorities? He wondered how much money was involved, and though assumed petty compared to the real motive behind the idea for the operation indicated by the visitor to the candle shop, he wondered if the volunteers were to be paid money, and how much. One consolation was that if he chooses to accept the proposition, Jacques would not take part in it so there would be less to worry about. Jacques would have the understanding that he could help by checking up on his safety, like a correspondence by letter, if such provisions were available for the crew that the man was referring to. There was also the possibility that Jacques would have to bring one of his friends to fill in the candle work normally done by Pierre-François. It just so happened that unlike for Pierre-François, Jacques's circle of friends included someone interested in becoming a candle maker.

That evening Pierre-François pondered the choice over a dinner of poulet à la fromage (chicken with cheese) and the normal white wine that went with poultry fare. The table candlelight flickered over the sumptuous gravy, but even though he appeared like he was intimately enjoying every bite slowly and without distraction like a good Frenchman should, his mind was not on food.

The voice of his thoughts was speaking louder inside him than the family conversation that seemed completely boring in comparison.

"Quels sont les risques de danger?" ("What are the risks of danger?") He wished someone from that unknown crew could come as a confidential visitor and answer the question and others immediately.

"Quels seront les bienfaits?" ("What would be the benefits?")

"Qui disait non et pourquoi pas, `a part de ne savoir pas la langue anglaise?" ("Who said no, and why not, besides to not know the English language?")

"Est-que j'en sois assez bien?" ("Would I be good enough for it?")

"Qu'est-ce que se passerait si je tombe aux aucunes fautes?" ("What would happen if I fall into any mistakes?")

"Est-ce que le travail actuel aussi simple que j'en pense? J'ai dèja mon propre métier quotidien qui me suffit!" ("Is that actual work as simple as I think it is? I already have my own daily trade that suffices me!")

"Comment se ferait-t-il le fin d'un tel travail?" ("How would the end of such work go?")

These thoughts of wonder came on top of obvious thoughts of how he would make himself available physically and by principle to follow through with the tasks. Would the travel and lodging away from home and family be worth it? He again wished he could meet that night with someone who knows every detail of the secret night supply crew and its work. His deadline for decision could be in the morning or afternoon. It was important that he make his decision literally by the time he arrives at the beginning of his candle making work for the day. He still had to prepare for the actual preparation. There were certain tasks in the candle shop that Jacques would have to do if the definite word would be yes. He wasn't even sure if Jacques was capable of handling the ramifications of his would-be absence, or to what extent. This was what made this proposition such a new kind of experience to come along. It was clearly not the same as a familiar friend asking him for a favor, and accordingly with the traditionally French values system he grew up with, he strongly believed should not be treated as such. What if he decides to say no? He would have to analyze what he will have missed out on. The man who came into the candle shop mentioned nothing about whether or not anyone who said no would have a second chance to accept the proposition. What about if it was the other way around?

Since the kind of work involved would have no connection to candle making, it comforted him to know that it would not come as a cost to him or the family business, and bear no risk of ruin for the Simonieux family in terms of stock or trade. It was assumed that American people produce their own candles, and from their own raw materials originating in their land with no need for imported supply from abroad. Better yet, it would not cost him any money to accept the man's proposition. It seemed as though the fact that the tasks were secret had something to do with the apparent gratuitous basis on the part of the participants. In other words, by virtue of the operation's purpose, the people who accepted the proposal and followed through with it were by no means made to pay for meals, lodging, and transportation out of their own pockets. He was eager to ask the man expected to show up at the candle shop if the participants are responsible for paying the cargo tariffs instead. He hoped that the answer was no. He believed by principle that the working crew should not have to pay for the privilege of being a part of something secret in doing the work, even if there would be a wage for them to take home after the work is all done. He was not naïve enough to assume that the wage would be sizable. He knew from the dynamics of the business culture of his country that no ordinary civilian could become rich from doing something as part of an operation imposed by someone of the French aristocracy, let alone something secret. He thought to himself that if there was no wage, there should be no aspect of the secret work deemed detrimental to the good graces of the royal court in Versailles, or move against or even almost move against any decrees by the king himself.

Because of the secretive nature of what he was propositioned, he knew he could not request the advice of his other family members at bedtime or at breakfast, should they disapprove of a choice to say yes to the man who has a secret business dealing with America. This led him to consider the standpoint of whoever else had said yes to the proposition, and whether or not their acceptance of the proposition would have any effect on their families or whatever trades they were involved in. After all, not every tradesman in France had the same type of dealings and financial considerations as those of a candle maker. He had only the few hours of the overnight to analyze whether or not to accept the proposition, all silently. He knew that whatever his choice be, he could not be selfish concerning his family. If word got out and his parents found out about their son's involvement in something like that, political or not, it was possible that it would be time to both save face and call upon assistance to stop the involvement activity both for his sake and the sake of his family. For all they would think, they would fear Pierre-François would likely end up in jail.


End file.
